Subj : Re: do serious programmers have a life? To : comp.lang.c++,comp.programming From : blmblm Date : Sat Sep 24 2005 05:06 pm In article , Phlip wrote: >amanda992004 wrote: > >>> The original poster reported "feeling like a robot", >>> which is a clear sign of sleep deprivation. >> >> My sleep depravation is not from not staying in bed; I just don't sleep >> well and hence require longer hours to stay in bed to feel rested. >> Being in school, sleep deprivation is a routine as I must finish >> homework, project. Feel like a robot and I am wondering thinking that >> with "I need to learn this", "I need to lean that", when will I ever >> not be like a robot? > >School is different; it's supposed to rot your brain. Only someone deeply cynical about the educational system would say this! Those who retain a little idealism would make other claims about what school is supposed to do. At the college/university level, I would claim that this includes exposing them to new ideas, improving their ability to think critically and communicate clearly, teaching them to learn on their own, and giving them conceptual frameworks on which to hang technical or other details they will learn later. Now, whether an actual school achieves any of these aims is another matter. Some schools probably don't really even try. Some try but don't succeed, or don't succeed with all students. Some do succeed, at least with some students. If you're at a school that doesn't try, or that tries but doesn't succeed with you (and there can be lots of explanations for why that would happen, many of which are not the student's fault), then yeah, "rots your brain" isn't too far off the mark. But I think it's deeply cynical to say that that's what's *supposed* to happen. :-), sort of. >In work, you should be accomplishing one small feature of one big program, >over and over again. This is fulfilling and good for you; it won't feel the >same. I'm not sure I agree with everything here, but I agree with what I think is the overall point: If your assigned tasks don't relate in any obvious way to any interesting goal, it's a little hard to feel motivated to do them or to get much sense of accomplishment out of doing them well. This could happen with school or a job. If what you're doing *does* contribute in some way to a goal that feels meaningful, that can make all the difference. [ snip ] -- | B. L. Massingill | ObDisclaimer: I don't speak for my employers; they return the favor. .